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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. tube — the underground
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. face — part of the head
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. tube — a container
  9. press — to push
  10. snap — to click
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. face — to point toward
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. press — newspapers
  18. cold — not warm
  19. fork — in a road
  20. cold — an illness
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. press — a publisher
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. branch — a division

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com